Book Review | 'Telegraph Avenue'

7:59 PM,
Oct. 5, 2012

Written by

David Walton
| Special to The Courier-Journal

Bighearted is the word to describe Michael Chabon's new novel, "Telegraph Avenue," set in 2004 in the "Brokeland" district of Oakland, Calif., a longtime crossroads of contemporary urban change.

Ned Jaffe and Archy Stallings are partners in Brokeland Records, a vintage music store threatened by the proposed construction of a multimedia theater and shopping plaza. The power behind this "Thang" is ex-quarterback Gibson Goode, the fifth richest black man in America.

Ned's wife, Aviva, and Archy's very pregnant wife, Gwen, are partners in a midwife practice, threatened by a hostile ...